This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
Chopper 6 HD was over a deadly crash on Riverton Road in Cinnaminson. (WPVI)
Tuesday, September 06, 2016 07:07AM CINNAMINSON, N.J. (WPVI) -- Police say a motorist was killed after losing control of a pickup truck and hitting a tree in Cinnaminson.
It happened at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday on Riverton Road near Chatham Court.
Video from Chopper 6 HD showed a dark colored pickup truck which appeared to have hit the tree head-on.
Police and fire department crews were on the scene.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
There was no immediate word what may have caused the driver to lose control. Judging from the area where this accident occurred and from the tree collision, most likely he was a drunk driver, as most of the drunk driving accidents occur in the A.M. hours.
Riverton Road was shut down in both directions as crews worked to remove the pickup truck.
8 people rescued from yacht taking on water in San Leon
Lauren Lea Monday, September 05, 2016 10:46PM SAN LEON, TX (KTRK) -- A Labor Day outing on the yacht "Euphoria" wasn't exactly euphoric on Monday. An oyster reef ended the holiday fun when the 47-foot yacht ran aground and started taking on water.
Eyewitness News exclusively obtained photos from Eagle Point Fishing Camp that show eight family members still aboard the listing boat.
"Yeah, they were freaked out at first," said Capt. John Judice, who was aboard a Sea Tow boat seen in the photos evacuating six adults and two children in water that's shallow enough to walk in. One by one he helped them get to safety.
Judice spoke exclusively with Eyewitness News.
"I ended up getting the kids off first, taking them over to the Coast Guard boat then the women and the men after that," he said.
Witnesses say the boat appeared to be going too fast for the area when it ran aground around 4:15pm.
Luckily, no one was hurt and the U.S. Coast Guard took the family home to Nassau Bay. Towing the Euphoria off the reef proved to be a difficult task, why it got stuck is still unknown, but it could be an expensive Labor Day lesson.
"If you don't pay attention to your charts out here, you can get into a lot of trouble, just like here," Judice added.
Fuel leak sparks fire on tanker in Houston Ship Channel
Updated 1 hr 2 mins ago DEER PARK, TX (KTRK) -- A ship fire kept firefighters busy overnight in Deer Park.
The fire broke out just after midnight on the petroleum tanker ship known as the Aframax River #OOTT.
Fire boats were called to the docks of the Intercontinental Terminals Company on the Houston Ship Channel, just north of Texas Route 225 and east of the Beltway.
The U.S. Coast Guard says somehow the ship got a gash, causing the tanker to leak an unknown fuel. That same fuel ignited at some point.
Firefighters were able to get the fire mostly under control less than an hour later.
Fortunately, all 25 people on board were able to evacuate the ship safely.
A small portion of the Houston Ship Channel will be shut down until 9am as a precaution to keep other ships from tracking the fuel throughout the channel.
The Coast Guard says it is still trying to determine how much fuel spilled out.
HOUSTON - The U.S. Coast Guard says the Houston Ship Channel is closed after an early-morning tanker fire and oil spill.
The Coast Guard says the tanker, The Aframax River, may have hit a submerged sewer line. This caused a rupture in the hull, leading to a fire. There were no injuries.
The incident happened at about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
The fire is out, but one mile of the ship channel remains closed at this time south of the Battleship Texas.
Officials say there is a bunker oil spill, but it's not yet known how much oil was lost in the channel. They will assess the spill after sunrise and hope to hope the ship channel sometime after 9 a.m.
AFRAMAX RIO - Crude Oil Tanker AFRAMAX RIO - IMO 9273844 - Details and current position
What is the ship's current position? Where is the ship located? AFRAMAX RIO last received position is 59.37048 N / 6.71623 W on Aug 27, 2016 at 21:43 UTC.
Vessel AFRAMAX RIO (IMO: 9273844, MMSI: 373641000) is a crude oil tanker built in 2004 and currently sailing under the flag of Panama. AFRAMAX RIO has 236m length overall and beam of 42m. Her gross tonnage is 57948 tons.
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Lynchburg Ferry closed after fuel leak in Houston Ship Channel
Lynchburg Ferry shut down after ship fire (KTRK)
DEER PARK, TX (KTRK) --
The Houston Ship Channel is closed to all traffic for 1 mile
southwest of the Battleship Texas State Historic site, between the
Cargill facility and the Cemex dock, as teams respond to leaked fuel oil
from a ship Tuesday morning.
Around midnight, a pilot aboard the
810-foot tanker, Aframax River, notified Coast Guard Sector
Houston-Galveston watchstanders that the tanker was on fire near the
Intercontinental Terminals Company. It was reported that a bunker tank
was punctured and caught fire. The tanker was not carrying any product
when the incident occurred.
Coast
Guard Station Houston and Station Galveston boat crews, two Port of
Houston Authority fire boats and Harris County Sheriff's Office marine
division responded.
Fire boats were called to the docks of the
Intercontinental Terminals Company on the Houston Ship Channel, just
north of Texas Route 225 and east of the Beltway.
The Houston
Ship Channel was closed at 12:08am, and the Coast Guard established a
safety zone from the Cargil facility to the Cemex docks.
The fire has been extinguished and all tanker crew members are accounted for with no injuries reported.
A
portion of the Houston Ship Channel will be shut down as a precaution
to keep other ships from tracking the fuel throughout the channel. The
Lynchburg Ferry is not operating at this time. Drivers are encouraged to
use I-10 East as an alternate.
The Coast Guard says it is still trying to determine how much fuel spilled out.
Coast Guard, Washington State Department of Ecology respond to sunken vessel in Westport, Wash. Sep 5th, 2016
The 77-foot fishing vessel Lady Lillian surrounded by boom after it sunk at the Westport Marina, Wash., Sept. 5, 2016. Photo Courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology.
WESTPORT, Ore. — Coast Guard and Washington State Department of Ecology personnel are responding to the sunken 77-foot fishing vessel Lady Lillian and resulting sheen at the Westport Marina, Monday.
Incident Management Division personnel from Coast Guard Sector Columbia River opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and contracted Global Diving and Salvage to plug vents and empty fuel tanks, and Ecology and Port of Grays Harbors staff deployed oil spill containment boom and cleanup pads around the sunken vessel
Watchstanders at Sector Columbia River received the report of the sunken vessel around 6:40 a.m. from members at Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor, who had verified the initial notification they received from marina staff.
The boom and clean up pads used came from an Ecology spill response supply trailer kept at the port, one of more than 100 positioned around the state.
Vessel reportedly contained approximately 1,000 gallons of diesel and 7 gallons of hydraulic oil aboard.